Rag Doll Elf Coat

I can’t believe I’m FINALLY posting about this completed project! I’ve certainly done lots of projects featuring scrap yarn before, for many reasons – I have a lot of it, I adore color mixing and making color progressions, and it creates cool things from otherwise useless little bits of leftover fiber. But I’ve never attempted anything like this…

Meet Rag Doll, my latest Elf Coat! This XL sized coat is made with 100% leftover yarn balls, each stitched lovingly by me into a scrappy prismatic mantle that’s as warm as it is magical 🙂 You can get all the elements of the Elf Coat Tunisian Crochet pattern for FREE here on my blog – follow the links on the Elf Coat FAQ page.

Before I go on to talk about the project details – This coat is FOR SALE! Its very, very rare that I complete an original Elf Coat to sell, and you can get this one in my Ko-Fi shop now! Make sure you read the details in the description regarding the size and actual measurements and please let me know if you have questions about it. And oh yeah… FREE shipping within the U.S 😉

Oh, Rag Doll! You were my constant companion for 14 months. I spent 15+ hours just on weaving in the ends ALONE. Because though I’ve done lots of scrappy projects in the past, I’ve tried to create designs that incorporate those pesky ends as a fringe so that I don’t have to complete the hated work of weaving them in with the yarn needle. But that strategy was a no-go for this coat, it needed to be scrappy but I hated the idea of having a fringe at every seam – so weave the ends in I did!

I made a few modifications to the length of this coat – one of the major ones was shortening the wedges by skipping 8 non-increase rows out of the first part of every wedge piece. I’m glad I did that, since the coat came out long anyway! I also modified the hood to be extra tall and roomy at the neck by adding in a section of rows stitched directly onto the bottom of the hood before seaming.

This coat got two really plush inset pockets, nestled nicely above the waistband so you can barely tell they’re there – I considered doing the pointed pockets, but I didn’t want to cover ANY of those lovely scrappy color progressions I worked so hard on creating.

And of course, the corset back lacing using the very last of my favorite mesh ribbon yarn I got years and years ago (my favorite one to use for ties and laces in my crochet). I really wish that mesh yarn had come with a label so that I knew what it was called, although surely it’s out of production by now anyway.

The front closure is finished off with a row of 6 traditional round buttons, neatly mismatched to coordinate with the rest of the coat 🙂

My friend Rukus was my model for this photoshoot and she did a perfect job! Those platforms were NOT easy to twirl around in, haha! I asked her to wear heeled shoes and she really provided 😉 I wanted her in taller shoes because this coat would fit a taller-than-average person best – but check the full description + measurements in my Ko-Fi shop if you’re interested <3 Model is 5’4″ (not counting the 3″ platforms).

Whew!! It was so satisfying to put up the very last of the leftover little yarn balls back into their color-coded baskets after finishing this project. It must have been 4 years I’ve had that scrap yarn collected and ready to create this project – and having blasted through so many leftovers, I barely had anything to put back!

-MF